Category Archives: Gregory Peck

1978 Films, Gregory Peck, James Mason, Laurence Olivier, Political Thriller, Steve Guttenberg, Thriller

The Boys from Brazil-1978

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The Boys from Brazil-1978

Director Franklin J. Schaffner

Starring Laurence Olivier, Gregory Peck, James Mason

Scott’s Review #1,391

Reviewed August 20, 2023

Grade: B+

The Boys from Brazil (1978) is a taut political thriller with a neo-Nazi focus and a weird cloning subject matter. It’s a bit of a tough follow but quite compelling all the way though and doesn’t lag at all.

Sometimes political thrillers get overly complicated or drag but this one doesn’t. The story is slightly hokey and impractical even bordering on ludicrous but since it’s so intriguing and action-packed these adjectives can be overlooked.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t blown away by either the performance of Laurence Olivier or Gregory Peck despite being a fan of both quality actors. Both actors overact and create stereotypes but especially Peck’s character is a bit too cartoonish.

It took me half the film to even recognize either man since both are heavily made up making them hard to recognize. It also took until the dramatic conclusion for either character to truly grow on me.

A brilliant one-scene cameo performance by Uta Hagen, a German American actress, as a former Nazi guard now imprisoned nearly steals the show and should have deserved an Oscar nomination.

The story surrounds Doctor Josef Mengele played by Peck who clones Adolf Hitler ninety-five times and raises the boys in Brazil, giving them childhoods identical to Hitler’s in various parts of the world.

His goal is to create a band of Nazi leaders that can continue where Hitler left off, forming the Fourth Reich. Their fathers will be murdered and the boys will be mothered as Hitler was.

Ezra Lieberman (Laurence Olivier), a Nazi hunter, learns of the plan from a young journalist (Steve Guttenberg) and is determined to thwart it.

The plot is a tough pill to swallow and takes some time to absorb exactly what is going on but it’s fresh and unique. I’m not sure if in 1978 people had had enough of Nazi and World War II films but both subjects are always worth dissecting again.

I’m not sure why it was so tough to get used to Peck as the evil doctor but it was. It’s probably because Peck usually plays characters with a strong moral compass and he was playing way against type.

His character looks weird and Peck seems to be overacting sometimes almost like he was playing a James Bond villain. It’s not exactly a role that measures up to Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).

Olivier is better and the main protagonist of The Boys from Brazil but I’m not sure he entirely wins me over. It’s not easy immersing in the prim and proper British aristocratic actor playing a Jewish man who kvetches so often.

Still, by the finale when Mengele meets Lieberman in a deadly showdown involving vicious Dobermans, a gun, and a Hitler clone I was cheering for Olivier all the way.

Supporting characters played by Guttenberg, Anne Meara (Jerry Stiller’s wife) as Mrs. Curry, one of the Hitler clone’s mothers, and the aforementioned Hagen is excellent. I wish that each character was explored better and given more screen time.

The same can be said for Rosemary Harris in a one-scene performance. While quality, I wanted more from her character of Frau Doring, the wife of one of the murdered fathers of the Hitler clones.

Finally, James Mason has little to do as Colonel Seibert other than serve as second fiddle to Peck.

But, The Boys from Brazil is the Olivier and Peck show.

The locales are a big win since they add an international vibe and relevance. Geographies such as Germany, Paraguay, Austria, and rural Pennsylvania, United States are featured which lofts the film up tremendously.

The taught nature of the film provides suspense, an ode to history, and an eerie measure of Trumpism in comparison to Nazi-ism. The Boys from Brazil (1978) isn’t prime steak but it’s not a bad watch either.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor-Laurence Olivier, Best Film Editing, Best Original Music Score

1959 Films, Ava Gardner, Drama, Gregory Peck

On the Beach-1959

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On the Beach-1959

Director Stanley Kramer

Starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner

Scott’s Review #1,179

Reviewed September 19, 2021

Grade: A-

On the Beach (1959) is a film that showcases a grim subject matter but remains relevant considering the period in which it was made. The Cold War era kept most people on edge with the threat of nuclear war as they rolled into the 1960s.

The lavishness of the 1950s turned into a more distrustful time as countries gained modern technological advances making nuclear weapons a real possibility.

At the time the film was not met with much praise or popularity.

Certainly, people were content in their cinematic bubbles of nice and comforting films that largely emerged during the 1950s but On the Beach is a fantastic discovery decades later.

I suppose people expected a sweeping epic romantic adventure but what they received was a harsher tale. But, it’s not nearly as dark as it could have been.

The black and white cinematography is highly effective at relaying a cold and stark world that is left for the film’s characters. Another success is that the film is set in the future, 1964 to be exact while the film was made in 1959.

The film is hardly a downer and while the subject matter of nuclear disaster and devastation sounds heavy there is as much romance as there is social storytelling. The romance between Peck and Gardner is effective and the best part of the film experience.

As the story begins, we learn that World War III has already occurred, leaving Australia as the only remaining safe place for survivors. However, wind currents carrying lingering radiation are headed their way condemning those on the continent to certain death.

When the survivors receive a strange signal from San Diego, California, Commander Dwight Towers (Peck) must undertake a mission with Lieutenant Peter Holmes (Anthony Perkins) to see if there is hope for humanity. They leave behind Moira (Gardner) and Mary (Donna Anderson), the women they love.

Director, Stanley Kramer knows his way around a message movie. He also directed the racially important Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in 1967.

The romances between Dwight, Moira, Peter, and Mary are my favorite aspects of the film. Dwight has lost his wife and two children so out of loneliness falls for Moira, who has never married and has no one. Their soon-to-be doomed romance is fraught with complications as they cling to each other ever so tenderly knowing their time is limited.

Peter and Mary, on the other hand, are married with an infant young daughter. A major conflict the couple deals with is whether to take suicide pills rather than get sick and die a slow and painful death.

There is enough chemistry between Peck and Gardner to keep the viewer engaged and it’s tough to watch Perkins, a known gay man, play a macho father figure with a newborn for some reason. It’s also hard not to see Norman Bates from Psycho (1960). I half-expected Peter to attack Mary in the shower with a butcher knife.

Still, the acting is very good.

On the Beach states a powerful message in its conclusion. Ultimately, within just a few days of the shifting winds bringing the toxins to Australia, the last pockets of humanity are dead.

The empty, windblown streets of Melbourne are filled with dramatic, music over a single powerful image of a previously seen Salvation Army street banner that reads “There is still time .. Brother”.

Indeed, there is.

This leaves the viewer pondering his or her fate and the terrible dangers of nuclear war. Decades later, On the Beach (1959) still frightens and teaches about the ravages of world conflict and the plea for a peaceful society.

Oscar Nominations: Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, Best Film Editing

1945 Films, Alfred Hitchcock, Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergman, Leo G. Carroll, Michael Chekhov, Thriller

Spellbound-1945

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Spellbound-1945

Director Alfred Hitchcock

Starring Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck

Scott’s Review #1,015

Reviewed April 24, 2020

Grade: A-

One of Alfred Hitchcock’s early American films, after his voyage from his home base in London to the United States soil, proved profitable and critically acclaimed, Spellbound (1945) followed the box office and awards success of Rebecca (1940).

Probably the most spoofed of all the Hitchcock works in the 1977 Mel Brooks parody High Anxiety, Spellbound provides a psychological storyboard that uses enough vehicles like amnesia, hypnosis, and danger to impress any daytime soap opera writer.

Not in the director’s top arsenal or remembered well, but a stellar effort.

Youthful Doctor Anthony Edwardes (Gregory Peck) arrives one day at the sprawling Green Manors Mental Asylum as the new director.

After immediately falling for each other, the beautiful Doctor Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) discovers that Edwardes is not who he claims, but instead is a paranoid amnesiac impostor, more reminiscent of a patient. This gives new meaning to the term “the inmates are running the asylum.”

Constance becomes obsessed with answering the following questions: What happened to the real Dr. Edwardes? If Edwardes has been kidnapped or murdered who is responsible? Who is the gorgeous man that she has just fallen head over heels for?

The intelligent psychoanalyst must practice what she preaches by becoming a sleuth and figuring out what is going on. The action takes place in both bustling New York City and snowy Rochester, New York.

I love the progressive nature of the story.

To have a leading female character with a lofty professional status is admirable given the year 1945 when female roles were just beginning to evolve. While most roles that Hollywood heavyweight Bette Davis portrayed in the 1930s and 1940s were vital and strong, this was the exception and not the norm.

Bergman, quite beautiful, does not need to play sex kitten to make her character sexy. She does well with that by wearing glasses and a lab coat, using the intelligence of her character to her advantage.

In 1945 Alfred Hitchcock was still considered a “new” director by most and was only beginning to make his mark on audiences unfamiliar with his work. His cunning and masterful use of lighting and shadows to produce suspense is on display during much of Spellbound.

The faces of Constance and Anthony glow with a combination of warmth and suspicion, and both are wonderful at eliciting emotion through subdued facial expressions. While Peck is slightly wooden, it does add a dimension to his uncertain character.

The atmosphere is everything with Hitchcock. Treats, like shots of the old Penn Station and Grand Central Station, monumental parts of everyday New York City life, are magnificent. They provide a glimpse of what bustling commuter life was like in the 1940s before most of us were born.

Undoubtedly, many extras and non-actors were used that enrich the scenes and offer what regular people looked like in those days.

As Constance and Anthony team up to determine what secrets lie beneath his subconscious, they board a train for the seclusion of upstate New York, where more secrets are revealed. A heavy dose of psychoanalysis and hypnotism allay the best scene of the film.

Anthony sinks into a dreamlike world where he sees strange objects fraught with symbolism: a man with no face, scissors, playing cards, eyes, and curtains. What do they all mean? Fans will have fun piecing together the clues to solve the mystery.

The works of Salvador Dali, a famous surrealist artist known for bizarre and striking images, are on display during the dream sequence. Though limited, they do envelope the scene with fright and mystique and are a perfect addition to the odd sequence.

Shot in black and white, the final scene adds a blood-red image as a character turns a revolver on themselves and commits suicide. When Anthony drinks a glass of milk, the camera is inside the bottom of the glass, creating a hallucinogenic effect.

While Peck does his best with a peculiar character, Anthony is not as interesting as Constance, Doctor Alex Brulov (Michael Chekhov), or Doctor Murchison (Leo G. Carroll). I would have loved more scenes or back-story for Brulov and have gotten to know him better.

Anthony has some light annoyances as when he inexplicably passes out whenever events become too much for him.

Spellbound (1945) is the perfect accompaniment for a snowy winter night since the film has a warm and cozy look with an atmosphere and a soothing musical score.

Perfect is to watch in tandem with High Anxiety (1977) for a double punch of suspense and appreciation for the film with the humor the satire furnishes. While not the best of the best of Hitchcock films, it stands proudly on its own merits.

Oscar Nominations: 1 win-Best Motion Picture, Best Director-Alfred Hitchcock, Best Supporting Actor-Michael Chekhov, Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (won), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Special Effects

1953 Films, Audrey Hepburn, Comedy, Gregory Peck, Romantic Comedy, William Wyler

Roman Holiday-1953

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Roman Holiday-1953

Director William Wyler

Starring Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn

Scott’s Review #694

Reviewed October 26, 2017

Grade: B+

Roman Holiday, released in 1953, was a box office hit, pleasing legions of fans at the time, in addition to being a critical darling.

The film reaped a series of Academy Award nominations including the coveted Best Actress statuette for a young Audrey Hepburn.

A happy, uplifting story, the film is not diminished by Cinderella in the reverse storyline but rather is a charming, romantic experience immersing itself in pleasing locales of the cultural city of Rome.

Admittedly, Roman Holiday is an example of a film in which I preferred the latter half to the former but succeeds in setting the bar high in the romantic comedy genre.

Our heroine, Princess Ann (Hepburn), has it all glamorous life, gorgeous clothes, and assistants tending to her every need and want. However, she is unhappy and trapped in a rigid life that lacks freedoms or decisions of any kind, to say nothing of the fun she catches glimpses of party-goers reveling in each night from her expansive palace window.

Simply put, she is lonely and unfulfilled.

When she sees an opportunity to escape her life for a night of fun, she snatches it and stumbles upon an American reporter, Joe Bradley (Peck). The two, despite differing backgrounds, fall madly in love with one another.

At first, I found something missing in the film and the chemistry between Peck and Hepburn did not immediately embrace me. As the duo meets, Ann, drunk from sleeping pills, and Joe being the ultimate nice guy and allowing her to sleep in his apartment, the story seems somewhat lagging and lacking a good punch.

The pair drive around the city of Rome on a scooter and act childish and silly, Ann acting girlish because fun is an entirely new concept to her. At this point, the film was reasonable but little more than a farce.

As Roman Holiday plugs along, and especially through the final act, the film sheds a bit of its light skin and becomes much more poignant and meaningful.

Ann and Joe, while in love, realize they will not and cannot embark on a fairy tale ending, which truthfully, would have made Roman Holiday little more than a standard romantic comedy we have all seen before- you know the type- boy meets girl, roadblocks persist, boy whisks girl away and rides off into the sunset together.

Roman Holiday, while not a dark film, goes much deeper than a transparent, predictable ending.

Related to this point is that Roman Holiday contains a realness that sets it apart from many films undoubtedly drawn from it, but unlike this film, leans into contrived or predictable situations.

As Joe and Ann fall in love, the audience falls in love with them. The main plot hurdle- Joe’s temptation to profit off of Ann once he realizes her true identity by way of a sought-after interview- is earnestly done with a lack of any pretension.

Other similar films ought to take note of this.

Certainly, the historic and culturally relevant locales of Rome are a major sell of the film and, if these scenes were shot on a movie set, a lack of authenticity would surely have emerged.

Instead, we are treated to such fabulous location sequences as the Colosseum, the Tiber River, the Trevi Fountain, and Piazza Venezia. Such a delight is the long sequence of Roman escapades as Joe and Ann traverse the city in giddy bliss.

Enjoyable is how Roman Holiday contains no real villain of any sort.

Nowhere to be found are any physical hurdles to the duo’s relationship- no outside forces plotting to keep Joe and Ann apart, other than merely their lifestyles. Ann is in a world of royalty and pampering, but Joe is an everyman, so the chances of living happily ever after are slim to none.

Film lovers intent on discovering one of the early romantic comedies- one could argue that It Happened One Night (1934) was the first- ought to watch a feel-good, Hollywood classic from 1953 that is rich in honesty, good humor, and raw emotion without being too much of a heavy melodrama.

After a middling start, the film finishes with gusto.

Oscar Nominations: 3 wins-Best Motion Picture, Best Director-William Wyler, Best Actress-Audrey Hepburn (won), Best Supporting Actor-Eddie Albert, Best Screenplay, Best Story (won), Best Art Direction, Black and White, Best Cinematography, Black and White, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (won), Best Film Editing

1962 Films, Drama, Gregory Peck, Robert Duvall

To Kill a Mockingbird-1962

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To Kill a Mockingbird-1962

Director Robert Mulligan

Starring Gregory Peck, Robert Duvall

Scott’s Review #468

1051852

Reviewed August 25, 2016

Grade: A

To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 film based on the renowned novel penned by Harper Lee and released only two years earlier in 1960.

The novel was certainly groundbreaking and the film is equally so as race and racism are front and center in the storyline The film is still a marvel as the story is told through the eyes of a child- in present times an adult- as she reflects on her experience.

The film is set in the 1930s in a very small Alabama town.

We follow the lives of Atticus Finch, a respected lawyer, and father, and his two young children- Scout and Jem.

Gregory Peck as Atticus is the moral center of the film. Scout (Mary Badham) narrates and her innocence makes the story that much more compelling and less like a preachy vehicle for a social topic.

The Finchs are a tight family unit as Atticus is widowed, leaving Jem and Scout motherless. A poor black man-Tom- is accused of raping and beating a white woman, also poor, coached into the accusations by her racist father.

We accept that the woman had designs on Tom and when caught by her horrified father, was beaten, with Tom left to take the blame.

A good deal of the film, but not too much, takes place in the courtroom, as we hear testimony by the poor woman, her father, and Tom.

Not to be missed is that every juror is a white man- a sad reminder of the racism that existed and one argues still exists, though not as blatant in today’s modern world.

One cringe when the black attendees are forced to sit in the upper portion of the courthouse, an obvious way to demean and lessen them, and which speaks volumes for the town- we realize Tom does not have a chance, yet we hope against hope for his acquittal.

Wisely, I do not feel the point of the film is the outcome of the trial- we know what will result. But instead, the film teaches us a lesson in reality and that life is often unfair and painful.

It is the after-effects of the trial that is the most exciting part of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Gregory Peck was awarded the Best Actor Oscar in 1962 as he plays the liberal, progressive, honorable man. He can do no wrong and is a wonderful example for his kids.

A black maid, Calpurnia, works for him, he treats her like family, and I could not help but think that she is the mother figure in Jem and Scout’s lives.

Atticus does the right thing, treating everyone fairly, and living a moral life. He is a wonderful example and it is no wonder why Peck won the trophy.

A subplot involves a mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley, feared by the town kids, but turning out to be a protector and companion to Scout and Jem. This role was the first for acclaimed actor Robert Duvall- the actor has a tiny yet important role and does a great deal of expressive acting without uttering a line.

The title of the film is poignant and essential to the ending.

The film is really about Jem and Scout and their quick journey into the pains and unfairness endured by adults- once innocently enjoying the summer, playing games, and making friends with a visiting young boy, they are exposed to evil and a hate-filled racist town, which they slowly come to realize exists.

Filmed in black and white, this quality enhances the picture as the blowing leaves and dark shadows add much to the impressive cinematography and give the film a dark quality that color would have ruined.

The period of the 1930s is very authentic.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a timeless film containing an important message about the world, and is a film that ought to be viewed by children and adults of every generation for a lesson in empathy and compassion.

The film is not ugly or raw, but is truthful and still feels fresh. It will resonate with all audiences patient enough to give it a good watch.

Oscar Nominations: 3 wins-Best Picture, Best Director-Robert Mulligan, Best Actor-Gregory Peck (won), Best Supporting Actress-Mary Badham, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (won), Best Music Score-Substantially Original, Best Art Direction, Black-and-White (won), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White

1976 Films, Gregory Peck, Horror, Lee Remick, Scott's Top 100 Films, Scott's Top 20 Horror Films

The Omen-1976

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The Omen-1976

Director Richard Donner

Starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick

Top 100 Films #67     Top 20 Horror Films #18

Scott’s Review #331

60002150

Reviewed January 8, 2016

Grade: A

On the heels of similarly themed supernatural horror films, and all three classics in my view, The Omen (1976) follows suit with the religious-minded terrifying piece that resembles both The Exorcist (1973) and Rosemary’s Baby (1968).

All three films are cherished gems and favorite horror films of mine.

The Omen (the last to be released) is quite possibly the weaker entry having taken much from the other two films, and at the forefront is a child encompassed by devilish forces.

But to say “weaker” implies it is not good, which is not the case- The Omen is a masterpiece.

Set mostly in London, the film begins in Rome. Gregory Peck plays a powerful diplomat, Robert Thorn. Robert’s wife, Katherine (Lee Remick), has just given birth to a baby, who dies.

Unbeknownst to her, Robert and a priest have taken a newborn whose mother has just died, thereby fooling Katherine into thinking she has delivered a healthy baby boy. They name their child Damien.

Soon, Robert is named U.S. Ambassador of the United Kingdom- an astounding honor, but his and Katherine’s lives spin out of control when strange events begin to occur surrounding Damien, and they realize the child is not “right”.

I adore the many aspects of The Omen. The locale of sophisticated and royal London is perfect. The Thorns live in a grand, palatial estate just oozing with possible horror elements.

During a vast party for little Damien’s fifth birthday, the attendees are gathered on the perfectly manicured grounds of the Thorn home. It is a bright and cheery afternoon.

Suddenly, from the top floor bedroom window, Damien’s fresh-faced nanny publicly hangs herself from the window proudly shouting, “This is all for you, Damien”!

This scene is one of the most horrific and surprising scenes in the film.

When Damien’s new nanny shows up, she is off-putting and sinister. The inclusion of a pack of black dogs hovering around the estate is fiendish, and an innocent trip to the zoo results in the scared animals fleeing from Damien as if he is the antichrist, which of course, he is revealed to be.

Fantastic is the religious element of The Omen, a sure measure to frighten and freak out audiences brave enough to watch this film.

Who will not be on edge as a sweet-looking little kid is assumed to be the devil?  Religious elements in horror have been prevalent throughout the film ages.

Perhaps it is the Italian and British accents and settings that add layers of fear to the film.

What I love most about the film is its cynicism. The Omen is not a happy film by any means, nor does it result in a happy ending- Satan wins in the end.

Two memorable scenes are the pole through the heart of the priest scene and the gruesome decapitation of a photographer by a sheet of glass. In both scenes, Satan causes the deaths.

The finale of the film is incredibly compelling and downright shocking- the face-off of Robert and Damien in a church and the prevailing conclusion sets the stage for a sequel, which of course there was more than one.

The sinister smile at the end of the film is immeasurable in its evil nature.

The Omen (1976) is a film that I love to watch and revel in fright when the chills start to creep up my back.

What a fantastic film.

Oscar Nominations: 1 win-Best Original Score (won), Best Original Song-“Ave Satani”